Rainis and Aspazija silver collector’s coin released

In honor of the 150th birthday of Latvian poets Rainis and Aspazija, on September 8 the Bank of Latvia released a silver collector’s coin to celebrate.

The coin, in two detachable parts, features facsimile’s of poetry by Rainis and Aspazija as well as their portraits.

According to the Bank of Latvia website, Rainis (real name Jānis Krišjānis Pliekšāns, 1865–1929) and Aspazija (real name Johanna Emīlija Lizete Rozenberga; as of 1897, Elza Pliekšāne; 1865–1943) “were the most prominent couple in Latvian literature and culture.”

The proof quality coin, with a face value of 5 Euro, has a mintage of 7000 and was minted by UAB Lietuvos monetu kalykla (Lithuania). Arta Ozola-Jaunarāja provided the graphic design and Ligita Franckeviča the plaster model.

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area who lives in Rīga, Latvia. When not working in the information technology field, he sings in the Latvian Academy of Culture mixed choir Sõla, does occasional translation work, and has been known to sing and play guitar at the Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs in Old Rīga. Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.